One of the benefits I think interprofessional collaboration brings is an extra set of eyes to catch possible mistakes or opportunities when it comes to improvement for patients. Increased technology has also been as aspect of interprofessional collaboration where I’ve seen vast improvements, especially during times such as these when caring for patients has become increasingly difficult with COVID-19.

In fact today a social worker messaged me via the chat function in our electronic medical record. She has been working remotely since March. She reached out about a patient who was in need of respite services, from my provider’s note from the previous day I couldn’t determine if this was what my doctor wanted. I was able to cc her in my response, the messaging service is set up in such a way where a notification pops up on the screen and must be acknowledged in order for it to go away. It’s sometimes easy for messages to get lost in the shuffle when sent through the in-basket this function assure you a quick response. My provider responded promptly and the social worker was able to assist the patient and take of their needs.